Summer Games
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Introduction 

Experience the challenge of the greatest sport competitions of the world: the "Olympic Games", whose origin lies in the ancient world and probably in the 2nd century B.C.. With the ceremonial opening ceremony the time starts for which you have worked and trained so long to compete with the best athletes in the world. 

You will compete in the following events: Pole Vault, Platform Diving, 4x400m Relay, 100m Dash, Gymnastics, Freestyle Relay, 100m Freestyle and Skeet Shooting. 

 Background 

Summer Games was the first multi event sports game by Epyx. Building on this title, Epyx began with the games series. Summer Games was based on the concept Sweat by Scott Nelson. It was the first game by Epyx on which a graphics designer worked (which crucially determined the way Epyx later developed their games), and one of the best games of this company at all. 

 Design 

That a graphic artist took part in the development of the game, is straight away apparent. The movements of the sprites (athletes) are extremely subtle and smooth, a true pleasure to watch. Also the background graphics and the scrolling are super for this time (1984) - and this in a sports game. Furthermore, there are the different option screens which are kept simple but well-arranged. The "cherry on top" though, is the fact that you can choose the country for which you want to compete and that you can hear the hymn of this country (even if it is not always the right one). Also controlling the athletes is intuitively and realized fast. 

 Pole Vault 

At Pole Vault you need to swing yourself upwards and cross the bar. Before the jump starts you need to confirm the height and define the grip type. After confirming that with the fire button the athlete starts to walk and the player will define when the pole is lowered, the athlete will swing up and when he lets go of the pole. IF the timing was precise the pole stays standing upright and the bar stays in its hold. With enough practice this discipline can be managed well, as the background graphics offer good leads for the timing. 

Controls: 
 Joystick downwards: pole lowers 
 Joystick upwwards: athlete swings upwards 
 Fire button: let go of the pole 

Tips: 
 the pole should be lowered when the red flag comes 
 swing up at half height 
 when pole is vertical, then let go 

 Platform Diving 

The jump from the 10m tower unfortunately only contains somersaults with different speeds, so it is the most important thing to reach a clean plunge into the water (without splash). Four jumps need to be done: 
 Forward jump with fowards turn (Forward Dive) 
 Backward jump with backward turn (Backward Dive) 
 Forward jump with backward turn (Reverse Dive) 
 Backward jump with forward turn (Forward Dive) 

Controls: 
 Fire button for jumping 
 Right for strongly crouched, fastest turn 
 Down for the dived, second fastest turn 
 Left for the slightly dived, second fastest turn 
 Up for the stretched turn to plunge in 

Tips: 
 As beginner: after the jump (fire) go into the crouched turn (right) and then as short as possible before the water comes stretch out (up). 
 As expert you can raise the difficulty multiplikator by shortly doing the other two turns: 
 During the forward dive after jumping (fire) do an extremely short dive (down), turn fast for a long time (right) and shortly before the water comes dive slightly (left) and by stretching (up) as late es possible plunge in smoothly. 
 During the backward dive it seems the best to first turn fast and then fluently go through the other turns shortly before plunging into the water. 

(so you can reach each over 190 points with a multiplicator of 3.9 - 4.1) 

 4x400m Relay 

At 4x400m Relay you tactically control the power resources of each runner and the handover of the stick. You start and speed up by pressing to the right, keep the speed through a neutral position and you save the powers by pressing to the left. Handing over the stick is done by fire button, when both runners are close to each other. 

Controls: 
 Joystick right: speed up 
 Joystick left: rest 
 Fire button: hand over the stick 

Tips: 
 Speed up until the energy bar gets grey, then rest for a short time until the bar is white again, then speed up.... 
 According to the manual the runner 1 recovers slower than runner 4 and runner 2 loses energy faster than runner 3. 

 100m Dash 

The dash is the most straining discipline: the one who shakes fastest right/left is also the first on the finish line... 

Controls 
 Joystick right: start 
 Joystick left/right fast: run 

 Gymnastics 

At Gymnastics at the horse you need to show elegance and timing. The simple flip gets you 6 points, but for this you need to hit the board (fire) and land properly (down). For higher difficult grade you are awarded up to 10 points: for this you make an additional half twist after the jump (right), strongly push yourself off the horse (fire) and make three somersaults (up). If the athlete is not balanced after the landing, you can correct it with right or left before she falls. 

Controls: 
Fire button: hold for starting position, let go for starting, press again for jumping. 
Joystick left or right: twist in front of the horse 
Fire button: push off the horse 
Joystick up: crouch for a fast turn 
Joystick neutral: dive for a middle turn 
Joystick down: stretch for a small turn and landing 
Joystick right: correct backward position after landing 
Joystick Links: correct forward position after landing 

Tips: 
 Preferably push off the horse, when the athlete is standing vertically to the floor on the horse, to reach optimal height. 

 Freestyle Relay 

In Freestyle Relay it is again about endurance and timing. You have to initiate the jump at an early stage to leave the starting block at the right moment. During swimming while immerging of the arms the pressure needs to be raised by pressing fire and also the turn needs to be done by the player. Shortly before the swimmer reaches the stop after one hundred meters, the next swimmer will start its jump. 

Controls: 
 Joystick right: jump 
 Fire button: intensify the arm movements 
 Joystick left: turn 

Tips: 
 Jump already before the "GO", to leave the starting block exactly at the signal. 
 Make the turn within the red "end mark". 
 Start the jump of the next swimmer before reaching the stop. 

 100m Freestyle 

In 100m Freestyle everything goes exactly as in the relay, except with only one swimmer... The right timing for the jump and the correct turn can be checked well here. 

Controls: 
 Joystick right: jump 
 Fire button: intensify the arm movements 
 Joystick left: turn 

Tips: 
 Jump already before the "GO", to leave the starting block exactly at the signal. 
 Make the turn within the red "end mark". 

 Skeet Shooting 

Reflexes and precision are necessary for skeet shooting. 25 skeets need to be hit from 8 positions. The skeets are catapulted from two towers and fly from the left and from the right and sometimes from both directions at once. Speed and gravitation are the enemies of the shooter. You only have one shot per skeet... 

Controls: 
 Joystick directions: move sight 
 Fire button: shoot 

Tips: 
 aim a bit above and in front of the skeet. 

 Solution 
 Tips for each of the disciplines can be found under the description of each discipline. 

 Cheats 
 The course at "Skeet Shooting" is always the same. The skeetsare shot with the following scheme: 
 left, left+right, left, right, left+right, 
 left, right, left+right, left, right, 
 left, right, left+right, left, right, 
 left+right, left+right, right, left 
 

http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Summer_Games
